Office of Chief Statistician

The Office of Chief Statistician (OCS)

The Office of Chief Statistician (OCS) is responsible for the overall coordination and governance of the FAO’s work on data for statistics and statistics, both at headquarters and in FAO’s Regional and Country Offices. It provides technical leadership and guidance to the technical divisions in charge of data acquisition, compilation and dissemination, with the aim of ensuring quality and consistency of data and statistical practices at corporate level.

OCS plays a quality assurance role in the development of methods and standards for food and agriculture data and statistics and in the provision of technical assistance and capacity development to member countries.

The Office is also leading the Organization’s work to monitor the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators under FAO custodianship.

Areas of work

Focal points

Agricultural statistics
Contact: ClaraAida Khalil

Corporate monitoring and reporting
Contact: Simona Sorrenti

Data and statistics standards and classifications
Contact: Simona Sorrenti

Data and statistics governance and coordination
Contacts: Valerie Bizier; Faridun Hakimov

Earth observation data
Contact: Lorenzo de Simone

Fishery statistics
Contact: Aymen Charef

Forestry statistics
Contact: Simona Sorrenti

Open data
Contact: ClaraAida Khalil

Quality assurance
Contacts: Valerie Bizier; ClaraAida Khalil; Marcello D'Orazio

SDG compliance for the private sector
Contact: Valerie Bizier

SDG monitoring
Contacts: Dorian Kalamvrezos Navarro; Arbab Asfandiyar Khan;
ClaraAida Khalil

Statistics communication
Contact: Sophie Ditlecadet

Statistical Data Warehouse (SDW)
Contacts: Aymen Charef (Lead); Luc Warde; Fadhila Najeh;
Ngarsaim Beram; Stefano DiCandia

Coordination of Data for Statistics and Statistics

The Chief Statistician acts as Secretary to the Data Coordination Group (DCG), the highest corporate decision-making body for data for statistics and statistics matters, which main function is to endorse and promulgate internal policies, processes and standards for statistics and data for statistical purposes; provide oversight on data- and statistics-related strategic priorities that will benefit the Organization and its stakeholders; and ensure that their implementation is coherent with applicable overarching data policies, principles and UN initiatives, as well as FAO’s overall programmatic priorities. The DCG is chaired by the Chief Economist, in its capacity of Executive Data Champion, and is composed of senior FAO executives responsible for data-related policies and programmes.

The Chief Statistician also chairs the Technical Data Coordination Group (DCG-T), the technical arm of the DCG, which promotes inter-divisional cooperation on data and statistical programmes, endorses methodologies and common conceptual frameworks, and ensures the implementation of corporate standards. Its Members comprise representatives from all divisions within FAO concerned with the collection, processing, analysis and dissemination of data and statistics, including from the FAO Regional Offices.

Mandate

Oversee the development and validation of the SDG indicators under FAO custodianship.
Plan, review, approve and monitor the biennial data and statistics programme of work.
In partnership with the Office of Strategy, Programme and Budget (OSP), carry out the Corporate Monitoring and Reporting of FAO’s results framework.
Coordinate the development of standards and methodologies for data for statistics and statistics and promote their adoption across the Organization.
Establish and monitor policies for FAO data and statistical processes and outputs; prepare plans for quality improvements.
Steer and facilitate FAO data and statistical governance, both externally and internally.
Endorse and coordinate data and statistical capacity development initiatives; promote partnerships with other agencies and resource partners for collaborative work in the area of data for statistics and statistics.

Contacts

[email protected]